Undergraduate Review Volume 14 Issue 1 Article 5 2002 Aubrey Beardsley: Definition of the Decadence Cory Killian '03 Illinois Wesleyan University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/rev Recommended Citation Killian '03, Cory (2002) "Aubrey Beardsley: Definition of the Decadence," Undergraduate Review: Vol. 14 : Iss. 1 , Article 5. Available at: https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/rev/vol14/iss1/5 This Article is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Commons @ IWU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this material in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This material has been accepted for inclusion by faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ©Copyright is owned by the author of this document. Reynen KilianKillian '03: Aubrey Beardsley: Definition of the Decadence 25 ~tions: Motherhood and Women's Factory anagement in Japan in the 1930S and 1940s." Bern­ Aubrey Beardsley: Definition ofthe Decadence mong women in the Taisho Cotton Textile Industry." COlyKilian Vorking Women During the Interwar Years." Bern­ PART ONE: Aubrey Beardsley, Personification ofThe 1890S aphies of Desire: Male-male Sexuality in Japanese The final decade of the nineteenth century is nicknamed 'the Beardsley . Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. period' in recognition ofthe artist whose life is said to have epitomized the era. This >eath in Japan. Trans. Rosemary Morris. Cambridge: was the fin de siecle, a time in history characterized by an attitude ofanxiety and bewilderment towards the impending new century, perhaps best summarized by Ika: Sexual Politics and Popular Culture in Modern the interrogative title ofan 1897 painting by fellow artist Paul Gauguin, Whence rersity ofCalifornia Press, 1998. come we? What are we? Where are we going? Young poster illustrator Aubrey otell: Sexuality and Suicide in Imperial Japan." ~): 1-35· Beardsley provides a fitting figurative poster child for the prevalent mentality of urgency: Beardsley, following a meteoric rise to fame, would succumb to his lifelong white supremacy in the anti-globalization move­ .istance. Mar. 2002. battle with consumption just months short of his twenty-sixth birthday. Though ·oolourslsivesind.html>. Beardsley's illustrations may not be the most artistically profound, metaphorically, his ascent to world renown (with the 1894 publication of Oscar Wilde's Salome) and subsequent 1898 death frame a frantic and fruitful career that parallels the attitude ofthat decade in which they occurred. Beardsley's ideology is both a factor and a product of 1890S mentality. In this respect, he had much in common ideologically with his contemporary painters, including Gauguin, Odilon Redon, and James Ensor, although the style of his art­ work varies tremendously. like these artists, Beardsley was an early Symbolist, placing an emphasis upon that which was not immediately observable to the out­ side world through frequent use ofliterary allusion. He shared Redon's disdain towards the literalism of Impressionism. Redon invoked both the literary and the dramatic in his CyclopsJI898), Orpheus (1903), and Ophelia (1905); Beardsley appealed to both forms within his own illustrations of literature and drama, result­ ing in the "witty, irreverent and grotesque" (Raby). The grotesque is a common theme in Beardsley's and Ensor's shared fasci­ nation with facades. Beardsley once remarked, "I have one aim-the grotesque. IfI am not grotesque I am nothing" (Weintraub). Ensor's 1890 painting, Intrigue is very similar to Beardsley's 1894 frontispiece to Plays by John Davidson. Both de- Published by Digital Commons @ IWU, 2002 1 The Undergraduate Review 26 Undergraduate Review, Vol. 14, Iss. 1 [2002], Art. 5 Kilian Kilian pict a range ofwell-known people ofthe era (incidentally, both artists include their gold pen, often ignoring the pencil lines, a own sisters) though the faces ofall characters carry mask-like resemblances. In an moved. So every drawing was invented, b on the same sheet of paper (Raby 114) example of artistic stereotype spilling into reality, both Beardsley and Gauguin In the execution of his work, Beardsley exhibited "I fashioned dramatic public personas, their own personal facades. In their art, they almost obsessive control, but also a sense ofcontim depicted themselves as sinister and somewhat demonic characters, though ac­ (Raby, 115). The resulting illustrations were calligr. quaintances described both as colorful and flamboyant in life. They differ signifi­ continuum of Beardsley's transition from emphasis cantly on an important point, however. Gauguin cast himselfas a Bohemian, works (such as Salome and the Yellow Book) to an ; dressed in poetic black, and created a spectacle when followed by his Mulatto ser­ (notable in both The Rape ofthe Lock and Volpone: vant and pet monkey; Beardsley cast himself as the quintessential dandy, dressed fastidiously in the latest fashions, and created a spectacle with his manner ofaffec­ Stylistically, Beardsley was greatly influenc tation. One man championed the Noble Savage, the other the Decadence. Fellow result, his works employ the conventions offlat cole dandy and sometime friend Oscar Wilde once remarked that "Dear Aubrey is al­ nals and sharp edges notable in many ofGauguin's ways too Parisian, he cannot forget that he has been to Dieppe-once." (Weintraub his own work as "something suggestive of Japan, bl 60). subjects were quite mad and a little indecent...stran wandering about in Pierrot costumes or modem drl Beyond the ideological similarities that resulted from 1890S mentality, own creation." (Raby 26). This statement reflects tI Beardsley had his own distinct, "unmistakably modern" (Raby 30) style. He though he was greatly influenced by other styles, in. managed to exploit, like no one before him, a mode of works of Whistler and Burne Jones, his works were black-and-white design that reproduced easily and faithfully, thus enabling him to expand in unprecedented fashion the sensational tions. It is possible that this conglomerate method: effects and seductive allure of his equally unprecedented subver­ ofany formal art schooling. sive images (Snodgrass 95) Beardsley's work was unique in form, public accessibility, and content. Beardsley's work differs significantly from raries in that it was designed for reproduction. A nE Contemporaries called Beardsley the master ofthe line. Stylistically, ing the line-block method, was at his disposal. Whe "often he left much of the surface virtually untouched, boldly, yet sensitively, strik­ of his contemporaries suffered, losing effect in the 1= ing in a line or a curve, and creating dramatic effects with masses of black and Beardsley's illustrations flourished. Mass productie white...[he] stripped away nonessentials...simplicity was key." (Weintraub, 250). an illustrator; publications varied from magazines ( His medium was almost inevitably Indian ink, and he would work obsessively and literature (Le Morte D'Arthur) to plays (Salome ane continuously on one drawing, utilizing one sheet of paper for all stages of prepara­ In the era where the poster was not considered art, tion. He first sketched everything in pencil, "constantly rubbed out and blocked in claiming "Advertisement is an absolute necessity of again-to indicate the general rhythm and composition and balance." He then so­ made beautiful as well as obvious, so much the bett_ lidified the major lines, first in pencil, and then in ink, "before erasing or obliterat­ the public who are likely to wash." (Weintraub 85). ing anything he did not want." According to a friend, defend the art of the poster and exhibits an overridi ence ofmodernity and change. the whole surface became raddled from pencil, indiarubber and knife, over this incoherent surface he worked in Chinese ink with a https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/rev/vol14/iss1/5 2 The Undergraduate Review The Undergraduate Review < , - Kilian KilianKillian '03: Aubrey Beardsley: Definition of the Decadence 27 eople ofthe era (incidentally, both artists include their gold pen, often ignoring the pencil lines, afterwards carefully re­ moved. So every drawing was invented, built up, and completed ;ofall characters cany mask-like resemblances. In an on the same sheet of paper (Raby 114) espilling into reality, both Beardsley and Gauguin In the execution of his work, Beardsley exhibited "extraordinary concentration and ~rsonas, their own personal facades. In their art, they almost obsessive control, but also a sense of continuously flirting with danger." :er and somewhat demonic characters, though ac- (Raby, 115). The resulting illustrations were calligraphic. There is a recognizable IS colorful and flamboyant in life. They differ signifi­ continuum of Beardsley's transition from emphasis ofthe pure line in his earlier ,however. Gauguin cast himself as a Bohemian, works (such as Salome and the Yellow Book) to an almost embroidered effect :reated a spectacle when followed by his Mulatto ser­ (notable in both The Rape ofthe Lock and Volpone). Iley cast himself as the quintessential dandy, dressed ions, and created a spectacle with his manner ofaffec­ Stylistically, Beardsley was greatly influenced